Context : The fast temporal evolution of the ejecta morphology of novae can be considered as an important test bench for studying the shaping of many kinds of nebulae . V1280~Sco is one of the slowest dust-forming nova ever historically observed that has experienced a particularly long common-envelope phase .

Aims : We performed multi-epoch high-spatial resolution observations of the circumstellar dusty environment of V1280 Sco to investigate the level of asymmetry of the ejecta .

Methods : We observed V1280 Sco in 2009 , 2010 and 2011 ( from t=877 days after discovery until t=1664 d ) using unprecedented high angular resolution techniques .
We used the NACO/VLT adaptive optics system in the J , H and K bands , together with contemporaneous VISIR/VLT mid-IR imaging that resolved the dust envelope of V1280~Sco , and SINFONI/VLT observations secured in 2011 .

Results : We report the discovery of a dusty hourglass-shaped bipolar nebula .
The apparent size of the nebula increased from 0.30 ” x 0.17 ” Â in July 2009 to 0.64 ” x 0.42 ” Â in July 2011 .
The aspect ratio suggests that the source is seen at high inclination .
The central source shines efficiently in the K band and represents more than 56 \pm 5 % of the total flux in 2009 , and 87 \pm 6 % in 2011 .
A mean expansion rate of 0.39 \pm 0.03 milliarcsec per day is inferred from the VISIR observations in the direction of the major axis , which represents a projected upper limit .
Assuming that the dust shell expands in that direction as fast as the low-excitation slow ejecta detected in spectroscopy , this yields a lower limit distance to V1280 Sco of \sim 1 Â kpc ; however , the systematic errors remain large due to the complex shape and velocity field of the dusty ejecta .
The dust seems to reside essentially in the polar caps and no infrared flux is detected in the equatorial regions in the latest dataset .
This may imply that the mass-loss was dominantly polar .

Conclusions : V1280~Sco is an excellent test case for studying the temporal evolution of dusty bipolar ejecta .
As the nebula expands , observations will be easier and we advocate a yearly monitoring of the source using high angular resolution techniques .